Why is sleep so important?

Sleep plays an important role in your health and well-being. Getting good sleep for enough hours at right times can protect your mental and physical health. During sleep, your body works to support your brain function to keep it healthy. Sleep plays a vital role in the development and growth of the children as well.

The deficiency of sleep can increase the risk of chronic health problems. Sometimes people have trouble with sleeping because of being overstressed or suffering from depression and the good sleep is the first thing on which we become compromised. This affects our reaction and our thinking because sleep restores the function of the brain and supports it to work well and also gives our body a complete rest. Researchers said that “the brain organizes and stores memories during sleep. Lack of sleep can affect our daytime functioning, hormonal balance, appetite, and immune system.”

Different people need a different amount of sleep to work efficiently during the day. There are few things which you should understand to comprehend the quality of sleep.

Sleep is a practice:

The brain and the body process through several different stages during sleep and at each stage, different psychological process take place which includes changes in heart rate, brain function, energy outflow, muscle contraction and more. This process takes place at night during sleep. So, you become healthy when you get the proper sleep instead of sacrificing it for other activities.

Understanding the sleep cycle:

The sleep cycle is divided into two phases. REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non-REM or non-rapid eye movement). Both phases are important to activate the different function of our bodies.

NREM sleep occupies 75-80% of our sleep every night and many health benefits take place during NREM sleep. Tissues grow, repair and occur, energy is restored and hormones that are necessary for growth and development are released.

And REM sleep covers 20-25% of our total sleep. REM sleep occurs when we dream, it is essential for our mind to consolidate the emotions, memories, and stress. It is also important for learning process and developing skills.

If these phases are interrupted during sleep we miss out on the vital body process which affects our health and well-being.

Sleep a balancing act:

Less sleep impact on our physical and mental health, increasing the risk of many of diseases and the daily function. You might be surprised that too much sleep has the same effects. Oversleeping increases the risk of cardiovascular, diabetes, obesity and cognitive impairment.

Insomnia occurs:

Sleeplessness has a long-term aging effect on our health because when we are tired we tend to run on cortisol, the stress hormone. High level of cortisol breaks the collagen proteins which help to glue your skin cell together. So, deep sleep is essential for the repairing of your skin and releasing optimal amounts of human growth hormone.

Depression and sleep:

Insomnia is connected with depression as well. Some researchers have found that “people who regularly reported an inability to sleep were five times more likely to develop symptoms of depression”. A Good amount of sleep is the most important thing in treating the depression effectively.